The Backpage: Phone records, email and Congress

Last week The Guardian and The Washington Post took turns breaking stories that have, to say the least, stirred the debate regarding privacy vs. security.

The first report came on Wednesday from The Guardian concerning the National Security Agency’s seizure of millions of Verizon customers’ phone records.

The Post followed on Thursday with its revelation of a secret NSA program named PRISM, which reportedly allows the U.S. government to directly tap into the servers of several popular Internet companies such as Microsoft, Yahoo, Facebook and Google.

Included in the reports were PowerPoint slides explaining PRISM documents that were leaked by Edward Snowden, who has remained in headlines since.

Reports also noted that access for Prism is governed by Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which was amended in 2008. The Guardian also reported that the secret FISA court granted the Verizon phone record request order to the FBI.

Sen. Bob Corker wrote President Obama a week ago expressing his concern.

“On its face, if true, the collection of this massive amount of detailed information about the communications of American citizens raises extremely serious concerns about why such a broad collection is necessary and how this information is used,” Corker wrote.

After looking at all this information, we were curious as to how our federal officials voted on the extension of the FISA Amendments Act of 2008 and to extend the provisions of the Patriot Act, itself a source of controversy.

House votes

To reauthorize the Patriot Act:

Voted: May 26, 2011:

Diane Black (R) – Yes

Marsha Blackburn (R) – Yes

Steve Cohen (D) – No

Jim Cooper (D) – Yes

Scott DesJarlais (R) – Yes

John J. Duncan Jr. (R) – No

Stephen Fincher (R) – Yes

Chuck Fleischmann (R) – Yes

Phil Roe (R) – No

To extend FISA:

Voted: September 12, 2012

Diane Black (R) – Yes

Marsha Blackburn (R) – Yes

Steve Cohen (D) – No

Jim Cooper (D) – Yes

Scott DesJarlais (R) – Yes

John J. Duncan Jr. (R) – No

Stephen Fincher (R) – Yes

Chuck Fleischmann (R) – Yes

Phil Roe (R) – Yes

Senate votes

To reauthorize Patriot Act:

Voted: May 26, 2011

Lamar Alexander (R) – Yes

Bob Corker (R) – Yes

To extend FISA:

Voted: December 28, 2012

Lamar Alexander (R) – Yes

Bob Corker (R) – Yes

To require a report on the impact of the FISA Amendments Act of 2008 on the privacy of the people of the United States: